Tonight in Vancouver.
[From a press release]
What: The Joy of Words, An Evening of Readings and Music with Award-Winning Canadian Author Joy Kogawa
When: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Time: 7:30 to 9:00 pm
Where: Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard Street, Vancouver
Price: Admission by donation
Kogawa will read from her first novel, Obasan, recently re-released as a Penguin Classic. Along with Joy, special celebrity guests, including well-loved actors Joy Coghill, Doris Chilcott, and Bill Dow, along with CBC Radio One host Sheryl McKay and other special guests, will read favourite selections from BC prose and poetry. Japanese Canadian actors Minami Hara, Hiro Kanagawa and Maiko Yamamoto will read from the libretto for Naomi’s Road, the opera based on Joy Kogawa’s children’s novel. Jazz gospel singer Leore Cashe will also perform.
The event is a fundraiser to save Kogawa’s childhood home. The owner of the property has given TLC and the Save Kogawa House committee only until April 30 to fundraise the $700,000 needed to purchase the house. So far, more than $220,500 has been raised from 384 donors around the world.
TLC wants to save the house as a cultural landmark for all Canadians. Once protected, the house will be a used as a writing retreat, enabling new writers to create works focusing on human rights issues. It will also be open for public and school tours to educate people about the Japanese Canadian experience during World War II. For more information visit www.conservancy.bc.ca